Police step up speed controls

2 August 2004

MADRID – Spanish police say they have doubled the number of speed traps being operated this month as part of a general warning campaign to drivers.

A total of 31 people died in traffic accidents around the country this last weekend, as millions more domestic holidaymakers left home for the start of the next batch of vacations.

Known as the ‘salida de agosto’, the mass exodus of Spanish drivers  coinciding with the start of the new month resulted in 27 fatal accidents said the Directorate General of Traffic (DGT).

Although the number of casualties was down from 50 in 2003, the period lasted one day less.

Among the victims on Sunday were three people who died on the N-630 raod near Los Santos de Maimona when their car was in collision with a fire fighting vehicle.

The DGT said that as part of its careful driving campaign, the number of speed checks had been doubled since Sunday to 1,700.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news